Thousands of pupils don’t speak English

The immigration explosion means many children do not have our native tongue as their first language.[>

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John Paul, from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said teachers need more financial support to deal with the problem.[>

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He said: “Ideally, if you have one child in a class, you would like to know they are getting an hour a week with a second language expert to give them the opportunity to ask questions about the things they don’t understand.”[>

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He said at Guston Primary in Dover, Kent, 70% of pupils speak English as their second language.[>

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A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: “We have listened to concerns of head teachers and increased funding.”[>

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Meanwhile, Children’s Commissioner Maggie Atkinson said asylum seekers’ children should not be locked up. Dr Atkinson, who said James Bulger’s 10-year-old killers should not have faced an adult trial, said detention was “not an appropriate answer to their needs”.[>